Dongfeng Race Team finishes second in the first leg of the legendary Volvo Ocean Race

The Dongfeng Race Team, for
which Jeanneau is the official supplier, is flying the national colours of
China in the Volvo Ocean Race.

Today, we are proud to announce that the
Chinese-French team has finished in second place – only two nautical miles from
the winning team – in the first leg of the race, which covers 6,487 nautical miles
between Alicante (Spain) and Cape Town (South Africa).

Six months ago, the Chinese crew
of the Dongfeng Race Team, which also includes several French sailors, had
never before sailed together offshore.
This illustrates the dizzying speed with which the DFRT team has
prepared, first during intense training sessions aboard the Sun Fast 3600, then
aboard their Volvo Ocean 65 for the first leg of this iconic race.

After the first few difficult
days, the crew found their groove and made gains on their competitors. Despite two major setbacks – in which they had
to face a broken rudder, then a broken padeye for an outrigger, which violently
released the gennaker sheet – the Dongfeng Race Team has finished in second
place, with only 12 minutes and four seconds between their boat and the lead
boat, a more than encouraging result for this first leg in what is one of the
greatest ocean races in the world.

Jeanneau would like to
congratulate the DongFeng Race Team for this brilliant result, which shows
their aptitudes, their strength and their determination to stand out in this
race. We wish them fair winds and calm
seas for the second leg, which will take them from Cape Town, South Africa to
Abu-Dhabi.